The First Appointment

Today, I had my first pre-natal appointment. I did not meet with the OB today but with the nurse practitioner, which is standard for by OB/GYN office. Since they calculate the due date by the date of your last menstrual period, they have my due date as June 4th, 2009, which puts me at about 9 weeks. But since I was charting I know that I ovulated late and I believe that I am around 8 weeks. When I had my pelvic exam, the nurse practitioner said that it felt like I was probably about 7-8 weeks rather than 9. I told her! They will check at my ultrasound next week.

I cannot wait for my ultrasound! It is too early to hear the heartbeat with the Doppler, but the ultrasound will be able to detect a heartbeat. I can’t wait. This appointment wasn’t very exciting and I am glad I didn’t have Mr. Bear come with me for this one. There really was nothing for him. I had a pap smear and pretty routine exam. I gave a urine sample, which I learned that I will have to do at every visit. And I came away with a packet of information and nice goody bag filled with stuff. I will get to actually see an OB in 4 weeks and by then I will be out of the first trimester. I will see the OB every 4 weeks at first, and in the beginning of the third trimester every 2 weeks, and then from 36 weeks until I deliver once a week.

I am a little disappointed that when I asked about exercise, she said that I shouldn’t run. What?? I know several pregnant women who do run. She said that I can do pretty much any exercise that I was doing before pregnancy but she advises women not to run because you want to keep you heart rate at a certain level. I am little bummed out about that. But, she also said that running will not harm Baby Bear.

I have been reading up on it and it is okay to run but you do need to be careful with the possibility of overheating yourself. I guess I can maybe do a slow jog/walk. I work out a lot and I was doing very high intensity exercises prior to pregnancy in addition to running. She said I could do aerobics and anything else but, a lot of those are high impact, high intensity activities that were very similar to running. I don’t think she did a very good job at getting to know what I actually do.

I have still been exercising, but I have toned it down. In step class, I have gone down a step and I don’t do the plyos. In yoga, I don’t go into or attempt the intermediate/advanced poses like I used to. In my strength training, I use light weights. It has been a little difficult since I do want to go all out and stay fit. But I also know that I need to do what is best for Baby Bear and listen to my body. I am glad that I can still exercise.